Richland Moves held its regular meeting at the Mansfield/Richland County Public Library in downtown Mansfield Tuesday evening.
Paul Bender, co-founder of Richland Moves, explained the origin of the group, “It was kind of through Safe Routes to School, Karyl and I, and Kim Hildreth. The City of Mansfield’s Safe Routes to School Program was active and I thought we should use that as a springboard to expand and start doing both bicycling and pedestrian advocacy.”
Karyl Price is Health Educator and Creating Healthy Communities Project Coordinator with Richland Public Health; Bender is with Richland County Regional Planning Commission; and Hildreth is Program Coordinator with the City of Mansfield.
“It’s co-founded between the different agencies,” said Bender.
The mission of Richland Moves is to enhance mobility and accessibility by improving awareness, safety, convenience and comfort of walking and biking in urban, suburban and rural neighborhoods.
Bender noted that this is not just for recreation, “Bicycling is transportation. ‘Active Transportation’ is kind of the umbrella.”
He continued by adding that the term “Active Transportation” involves walking or any form of self powered transportation.
“When you get communities and funders to pay attention to road improvements or projects that accommodate bikes, it helps in that whole awareness that our roads, our sidewalks, our environments need to be accessible for everybody, regardless of how they get around,” said Price.
“We’re not saying ‘Don’t drive your car,’” added Bender. “We are not anti-car. We’re just saying if you make things better for what I call the more vulnerable user, you make things better for everybody.”
One of the main goals of the committee is “to connect neighborhoods into a seamless network of bike and pedestrian routes and maximize access to the Richland B&O Trail.”
Connecting the B&O Bike Trail endpoint to downtown Mansfield was one item discussed under this goal. Attendees discussed the best route and opted to continue the discussion in future meetings.
Other items discussed were the Complete Streets Program, the reopening of the B&O bike trail bridge at North Lake Park, possible valet bicycle parking in the downtown Mansfield area during the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure, and an effort to establish a Community Cycling Center.
“The Community Cycling Center has been a dream of mine, not just here in Mansfield. Shelby, I think, is under-served, and Lucas,” said Bender. “Long term, I’m thinking those three would be key spots to serve a variety of populations.”
Representatives from Richland Newhope and the North End Community Improvement Collaborative were on hand for the meeting, as well as local cyclists and community members.
Richland Moves meetings are open to the public, and input from interested parties is encouraged.
“We want you to be involved: all the citizens, business, and stakeholders. It starts with meetings like this, getting the word out through the press, and people being involved,” said Bender.
Richland Moves will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, May 6, at 6 p.m. at the Mansfield/Richland County Public Library’s main branch, located at 43 West Third Street, Mansfield. Meetings are held in the second floor conference room.
“We’re not saying ‘Don’t drive your car,’” added Paul Bender. “We are not anti-car. We’re just saying if you make things better for what I call the more vulnerable user, you make things better for everybody.”
